Cover letters

Falina Dovick blogs for CBC News on her job search

I've been meeting with one of the career counsellors available to UPEI students, and she's been providing me with encouragement and a lot of great advice. I also have the support of friends and acquaintances, all of whom have struggled with job searching, many of whom are still struggling.

I have five years of academic writing experience, I have handouts, I have advice and moral support — and I still can't write a cover letter.

Part of the problem is that I feel like the purpose of the cover letter is to show how many different ways you can say things you already said in your resume. For example, I found a job listing earlier this week for a position that I'm excited about. I polished my resume, studied my template, and proceeded to write what I thought was a pretty good cover letter.

As a precaution I sent it to my friend, an MLIS grad, technical coordinator, author and cover letter/resume whiz.

The ensuing conversation went something like this:

Me: How about this? "UPEI graduate seeking..."

Friend: That's good. You need that in your cover letter, because it doesn't inspire much confidence right now to be honest.

Me: It's already in my resume. That was a direct quote.

Friend: Why isn't it in your cover letter too? Also, put something like, "And I believe I would be a great fit for your corporation" in the third paragraph. It promotes inclusivity, and says you are seeing yourself in their future.

Me: I already said almost the exact same thing earlier in the letter.

Friend: What did you say?

Me: "I believe that my strengths and experiences would make me an asset in this position."

Friend: That is not even close to the same thing, but you can change the second "I believe" to "I see myself as" if you want.

Me: Seriously? Does any of this really make sense to you?

Friend: Yes.

Me: What if, instead of repeating myself over and over, I just …

Friend: No.

Since I began my job search, I sometimes feel like my life is becoming a Dilbert comic. I can't argue, though — Charlotte has a great job, and all I've read and heard suggests that jumping through these well-established hoops works, no matter how ridiculous it can seem at times.

All I can hope is that eventually these steps will make sense to me, or result in a job offer — whichever comes first.